Device for removing woody matter from fiber-containing stalks



Aug'. l2, 1941. 4 K. FRlscHE DEVICE? FOR vREMOVING THE WOODY MATTER FROM FIBER-CONTAINING STALKS I Filed July 8, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ug. 12, 1941. v K. FR|5HE 2,252,502

DEVICE FOR REMOVING THE WOODY MATTER FROM FIBER-,CONTAININ G STALKS Filed July 8, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Aeg. 12, 1941 DEVICE FOR REMOVING WOODY MATTER FROM FIBER-CONTAINING STALKS Kurt Frische, Bensheim, Hessen, vGermany Application July 8, 1939, Serial No. 283,499

f In Germany January 27, 1939 (ci. wenn Claims.

Devices are known in which the fiber-containing stalks, for example ramie or hemp stalks, are split in longitudinal direction and the woody tegument strips in various ways. As -compared y with such devices, the present invention comprises vvario'us improvements which in the course of experiments were found to be of advantage for the practical operation. In particular the output and the reliability in operation are to be improved. v v

The method of treatment commences with first splitting the stalks in a manner known per se in longitudinal direction. According to the invention, the stalk-halves thus obtained are seized immediately behind the cutting device by pairs of rollers and drawn along, whereby greater reliability of operation is obtained, as compared with those devices in which the stalks are merely pushed against the cutting device. Furthermore, according to the invention, the stalk-halves are not only flattened out by the said rollers before the removal of the woody matter, but are powerfully crushed, as only in' this way it is possible to obtain the integument without loss. As long as the stalk-halves adhering to the integument are notpowerfully crushed, they will form a very unbendable hollow profile and the integument will (more particularly in the case of hemp) adhere in more or less Wide strips at the edges of this profile and will mostly be wasted. Through the rolling operation the woody layer of the stalkhalves will be squashed fiat so that the parenchyma will give way and the woody matter will of itself partially fall away from the integument.

matter is removed from the fiber-containing inment strip is seized at the root end and is drawn of the fact that the integuments of the individual stalks behave quite differently according to the growth of th stalks. l

Only after the continuously guided root end which, owing, to the woody matter still adhering to it, has the requisite stiffness for enabling it to be guided has been securely seized by the conveying means does the removal of the woody ymatter in accordance with the invention commence.: The invention consists in this, that the integument is drawn by the conveying means tightly over a roller or edge, during which the woody strip which is` crushed fiat readily leaves the integument and is removed by a stripper which is oppositely directed to the direction of forward feed of the material. This mode ofremoval of the woody matter, in which the integuaround anredge, after which it is drawn against a stripper, has this advantage,-as compared with the known devices, that the woody matter is removed from. the stalk right into its tip. The short woody strip of the root end which was covered by the feed belts can finally be stripped off without difiiculty, more particularly since, asI I experience has.shown, it mostly falls off of itself,

owing to the powerful preliminary crushing, as soo'n as it is released from the belts. For thisv purpose a stripper or a narrow vane wheel will suffice, which beats oi the chip.

According 'to the invention the consecutive carrying out of the' individual operations: crushing, feeding round, gripping and removal of the woodymatter is rendered possible through the' root end and thereupon by means of a peeling stalks being brought in an' inclined position against the cutting device, so that during the forward feed they at the same time recede parallel to the axis of the .feed rollers from the place where they are introduced. .h

This inclined introduction of the stalks'has besides its importance for the actual working process the great advantage, that the stalks can be fed to the machine continuously next to and parallel to one another and that the integument strips are again deposited after'the removal of the woody matter in the same ordered parallel position.

The invention is illustratedby way of example and diagrammatically in the laccompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of essential parts of the device,

Fig. 2 a vertical section through a modified form of the device, in the plane of the feedbelts,

Fig. 3'a vertical section through Aa further modified form of the-device (section through the set of rollers) The stalks I are fed to feed-in rollers 2, 2' in an inclined position (for instance at an angle of 45) as an uninterrupted layer with oriented root; ends. No harm will be done, if two stalks should be crossed through faulty orientation or .through crooked growth, as it has been found that they will arrange themselves parallel between the feed-in rollers. In practice it is also not necessary for the rollers to be yieldinglyjournalled for enabling them to adapt themselves to the thickness of the stalks, it being sumcient to place the rollersso close together that even the thinnest stalks will be reliably seized. It is of advantage, however, to incline the rollers 2, 2 slightly with respect to one another, so that the space between them is suitably wider towards that end at which the root ends of the stalks enter. 'I'he stalks are split at a knife 3. The two stalk halves are then powerfully crushed between the rollers 2 and l, and 2' and 4 respectively, being thereby also drawn past the knife. The root ends of the integument strips I4 are then'drawn by narrow feed belts 5 around a thin roller 6 which may merge into a 'xed edged breast piece. the integument strips are seized by conveying means, for instance a pair of rollers 1 and 1', and are then drawn tightly over the roller or edge 6 and 6 respectively. This causes the woody strips I3, which have already become loosened to a considerable extent through the crushing. to becomedetached from the integument and to be removed by a stripper or a rotary peeler 8, 8

l respectively, arranged in opposition to the forward feed of the material. The integument strips I4 are deposited in two troughs 9, 9' in ordered parallel position.

In the constructional example shown in Fig. 2 rthe feed belts 5, 5a and 5', 5a' respectively are extended and are also used as conveyor belts for conveying the integument strips out of range of the rollers.

In Fig. 3 will also be seen a worm 9a with a bar I arranged above it, which extends right across the feed table II for the stalks I. By the convolutions of the rotating worm the individual stalk is forced to retain during' its travel across the table II the inclined position which it has when seized by the rollers 2, 2', so that the stalks introducedon top of one another cannot pile up orv interfere with one another.

Fig. 3 shows more particularly the construction of the peeling device as a rotary peeling device 8 or 8' with peeling cutters I2 and I2 respectively. It will be seen how the peeling cutters I2 and I2 act in opposition to the motion of the woody part I3 andfl'3"`respectively, as it lifts from the integument strips and is at this place just beingreleased by the feed belts 5, a and 5', 5a' respectively. In this way the removal of the woody matter from the integument strips is ensured.

What I claim is:

1. A device for obtaining the integument strips of fiber-containing stalks, comprising in combi- Immediately behindY the roller 4 nation: a wedge-shaped knife which splits the stalks into two halves, a pair of conveying rollers vices for lifting the woody matter from the integument strip at the rolls. l

2. A device for obtaining the integument strips of fiber-containing stalks, comprising in combination: a wedge-shaped knife which splits the stalks into two halves, a pair of conveying rollers which feed the stalks in an inclined position to the knife which has a corresponding length, two

pairs of crushing rollers, immediately behind the.

knife, for crushing fiat the stalk-halves and simultaneously feeding the unsplit stalks towards the knife, two rolls of small diameter, two conveying devices feeding the integument strips of the stalk-halves around the rolls, and two rotating blade rollers for removing the woody mat- 'ter separated at the rolls.

3. A device for obtaining the integument strips off`1bercontaining stalks, comprising-in combination: a wedge-shaped knife which splits the stalks into two halves, a pair of conveying rollers which feed the stalks in an inclined position to the knife which has a corresponding length, one crushing roller on either side of the knife, each of these crushing rollers forming with one ofv the mentioned conveyingrollers a pair of cru-.shing rollers, tworolls of small diameter, two conveying devices feeding the integument strips of the stalk-halves around the rolls, and two devices for lifting the woody matter from the integument strip at the rolls.

4 -A device for obtaining the integument strips of fiber-containing stalks, comprising in combination, a wedge-shaped knife which'splits the stalks into two halves, a pair of conveying rollers which feed the stalks in an inclined position to the knife which has a corresponding length, one crushing roller on either side of the knife, each of these crushing rollers forming with one of the mentioned conveying rollers a pair of crushing rollers, two rolls of small diameter, and four endless conveying belts, these belts working together in pairs and conveying the root end seized by two of these belts from the crushing rollers to the rollsv and around the latter and nallv depositing the integument strip.

. 5., A device for obtaining the integument strips of fiber-containing stalks, comprising in combination: a wedge-shaped knife which splits the stalks into two halves, a pair of conveying rollers which feed the stalks in an inclined position to the knife which has a corresponding length, a rotating Worm in front of the pair of 'conveying rollers ensuring an approximately parallel position of the stalks in rtheirinclinedintroduction, and means for removing the woody matter from the integument strip. y KURT FRISCHE. 

